Alta Badia: Palander fends off Miller for GS triumph

ALTA BADIA, Italy — Kalle Palander beat Bode Miller in the giant slalom race Sunday for the 13th victory of his World Cup career. Ted Ligety moved up 12 places in the second run to finish seventh.  
    Miller moved up from seventh after the first run to finish second, 0.51 seconds behind. Didier Defago of Switzerland was third, 0.59 back.

ALTA BADIA, Italy — Forty days of physical rehab in the middle of the summer have paid off for Kalle Palander. Ten races without a victory for Austria's ''Wunderteam'' spell crisis.
    Palander won a giant slalom Sunday for his 13th World Cup victory and the first since tearing knee ligaments in March.  
    ''It was horrible, so this is nice payback,'' Palander said. ''I didn't think I would be back at the top this fast. I think it's one of my biggest victories. Now I understand all the other guys who had operations, because this was my first. I didn't know how hard it is to come back.''
    The Finn, who led after the first run, covered the steep and narrow Gran Risa course in a combined time of 2 minutes, 28.82 seconds.
    Bode Miller moved up from seventh after the first run to finish second, 0.51 seconds behind. Didier Defago of Switzerland was third, 0.59 back, for his first GS podium. Ted Ligety moved up 12 places in the second run to finish seventh. 
    Austria's top finisher was Benjamin Raich in fourth position. The men's team has not won a race since Raich took the season-opening slalom in Levi, Finland, more than a month ago.
    The last time Austria went 10 races without winning was 12 years ago, when Alberto Tomba was dominating the circuit.
    ''I don't think anyone expected it. It's not like they're skiing terribly,'' Miller said. ''But you can't put it all on them. A lot of other countries have had great race days.''
    The U.S. team has had two victories and three podiums over the past three days. Miller won a super G Friday in Val Gardena and Steven Nyman posted his first career win in the downhill Saturday.
    The Swiss team has had podiums by Defago and Didier Cuche in the past two days.
    Raich is the defending overall World Cup champion but he's only seventh in the current standings, which are led by Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal.
    Palander's win moved him atop the giant slalom standings with 136 points, ahead of Italy's Max Blardone with 120.
    Palander had surgery following a fall at last season's World Cup Finals. He also won in Alta Badia in 2003, with his only other giant slalom win coming at Adelboden, Switzerland, in 2004. His other 10 World Cup wins all came in slalom.
    ''I love this hill. It's one of the most technical slopes on the World Cup,'' Palander said. ''Ten years ago I never thought I would have placed on the podium in GS, it was just training for slalom.''
    At 29, Palander isn't satisfied now that he's won again.
    ''I'm the kind of guy that likes to win. I'm not going to be going for a top 10 in my next race,'' he said.  
    Palander also has some business to settle with the course in Are, Sweden, where he was injured. Are is hosting this season's World Championships in February.
    ''I want to go back there and show it who's who,'' Palander said.
    Palander's coach set the course for the opening leg and Miller's coach set the second run.
    The Canadians were led by John Kucera in fifth place.

Miller stays hot, but will he "detonate"?
    Overnight snow and rain changed the conditions on the hill, making ski prep a guessing game for everyone. Miller said his skis had been running much better than early in the season. "They're a whole bunch better than at the beginning of the season. These skis are a million times better. I had a lot of speed."
    But not enough. "I had no mistakes, no bobbles," said Miller in disbelief. He also noted he has crashed out of the Alta Badia course in each of the last two seasons, both times near the end of the long, grueling course.
    He went aggressive in the second run and said he was "really happy," when he got to the finish. "I was 1.7 seconds out, but couldn't have skied much better. It's really hard for me to put two runs down this hill without any big mistakes."
    SL/GS head coach Mike Morin said after getting "kicked in the teeth" in the first run, the second was a relief. "Two boys in the top 10 is a big comeback from a very strange first run. The times were all over the place and the snow changed drastically from inspection to the first race run; conditions were totally different than what they inspected when warm air came in, so the plan from inspection didn't work. … They set up for hard ice. … but by the race we got gooey, buttery hard snow. It was so hard to put together two runs today and, really, only one did it. A great show by Kalle."
    After his second podium finish of the weekend, Miller again complained that a new U.S. team rule has affected his sleep. The rule requires he stay in the team hotel, not his personal motor home. Miller said he has received "reprimands" from the team for being so outspoken about the issue.
    "I'll live by the rules but I'm not going to censor myself with what I say about it," Miller said. "The amount of flexibility they've shown in the past is gone. It's no longer there for whatever reason. Hopefully I can last another month or two before I totally detonate."
    Ligety said he had nothing to lose in the final run and went for broke. "There's no point getting 19th, or whatever I was in the first run. I was a little ashamed in that run and I knew I had to bring a second run. It worked out pretty well," he said. "Up top I was charging hard … "
    "I had to go hard if I wanted to get a top 10, which I wanted. I knew I had to put down a lot of time [create a gap]; there was nothing I could leave, I had to give it everything," he said.

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THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's giant slalom, Alta Badia, Italy, Dec. 16, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Palander, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
3 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
4 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Kucera, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
7 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Simoncelli, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
10 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men's GS Alta Badia, Italy, Dec. 16, 2006. … It is the 11th race of the men's 38-event World Cup schedule. … It is the second of seven scheduled giant slaloms, with the opener having been canceled and not made up. … It is the first of two races scheduled for Alta Badia. … It is the 23rd World Cu
p men's GS held at the site.
    It is the 13th career victory for Kalle Palander. … Just his third in GS with the other 10 in slalom. … His previous GS wins were at Adelboden, Switzerland, on Feb. 7, 2004, and Alta Badia Dec. 14, 2003. … Palander has skied well at the site with two wins a second and a fifth in his last four outings. … Alberto Tomba won at Alta Badia four times and Michael Von Gruenigen twice; Palander is the only other man to win at the site more than once.
    It is the 50th career podium for Bode Miller. … His third of the season after two wins. … It is his 19th career GS podium and his third at Alta Badia. … He won at the site Dec. 22, 2002, was fourth Dec. 14, 2003, and third Dec. 21, 2003. … He did not finish in 2004 and 2005.
    It is the seventh career podium for Didier Defago. … The first in GS after four SG and two combined top-three placings. … His best previous placing at Alta Badia had been sixth in 2002.
    It is the third-best career result for John Kucera and his best — and only — in GS. … All three of those top results have come this season. … It is the ninth top five of the season for Canada… Francois Bourque placed third in the Alta Badia GS last season. … Ted Ligety matches his third-best GS performance. … It is his fourth top-10 result of the season. … It is his first scoring result at Alta Badia. … It is the 20th top-10 result of the season for the U.S. team. … It is the 69th time Thomas Grandi has placed 15th or better in a World Cup race and the 36th time in GS. … Sixth time at Alta Badia. … He won the race Dec. 19, 2004. …. It is the 22nd top 20 for Bourque, seventh in GS, second at Alta Badia.
    Aksel Lund Svindal (10th in race) holds the overall lead 386-363 over Didier Cuche (ninth in race). … Miller is third in the standings at 340. … Palander takes the GS lead away from Massimiliano Blardone 136-120. … Svindal is third at 106. … Miller is the top American on the GS list in fifth at 102 with Ted Ligety sixth at 96. … Winning margin was a half a second. … Top six guys are within the same second. … Top 18 within two seconds. … The winning time of 2:28.82 is the longest of any race this season.

Alta Badia men's World Cup GS results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	5	180251	PALANDER Kalle	1977	FIN	1:13.97	1:14.85	2:28.82	0.00
2	8	532431	MILLER Bode	1977	USA	1:15.67	1:13.66	2:29.33	3.02
3	15	510727	DEFAGO Didier	1977	SUI	1:15.57	1:13.84	2:29.41	3.49
4	6	50625	RAICH Benjamin	1978	AUT	1:15.29	1:14.37	2:29.66	4.97
5	36	102873	KUCERA John	1984	CAN	1:16.36	1:13.34	2:29.70	5.20
6	9	50547	SCHOENFELDER Rainer	1977	AUT	1:15.98	1:13.76	2:29.74	5.44
7	13	534562	LIGETY Ted	1984	USA	1:16.48	1:13.39	2:29.87	6.21
8	1	292120	SIMONCELLI Davide	1979	ITA	1:14.29	1:15.85	&n bsp;2:30.14	7.81
9	12	510030	CUCHE Didier	1974	SUI	1:16.04	1:14.11	2:30.15	7.86
10	4	421328	SVINDAL Aksel Lund	1982	NOR	1:15.20	1:14.96	2:30.16	7.92
11	14	50742	REICHELT Hannes	1980	AUT	1:17.28	1:12.93	2:30.21	8.22
12	2	50423	MAIER Hermann	1972	AUT	1:15.19	1:15.14	2:30.33	8.93
13	40	201702	NEUREUTHER Felix	1984	GER	1:16.74	1:13.65	2:30.39	9.28
13	3	292000	BLARDONE Massimiliano	1979	ITA	1:15.93	1:14.46	2:30.39	9.28
15	11	100115	GRANDI Thomas	1972	CAN	1:16.65	1:13.83	2:30.48	9.82
16	10	190677	CHENAL Joel	1973	FRA	1:15.80	1:14.69	2:30.49	9.88
17	25	510993	ALBRECHT Daniel	1983	SUI	1:16.03	1:14.49	2:30.52	10.05
18	7	102814	BOURQUE Francois	1984	CAN	1:16.05	1:14.72	2:30.77	11.53
19	18	50451	GRUBER Christoph	1976	AUT	1:16.15	1:14.67	2:30.82	11.83
20	38	511313	JANKA Carlo	1986	SUI	1:17.13	1:13.72	2:30.85	12.00
21	21	292250	SCHIEPPATI Alberto	1981	ITA	1:16.40	1:14.56	2:30.96	12.65
22	24	50931	BECHTER Patrick	1982	AUT	1:16.47	1:14.51	2:30.98	12.77
23	34	292967	EISATH Florian	1984	ITA	1:17.08	1:13.94	2:31.02	13.01
24	29	510997	BERTHOD Marc	1983	SUI	1:16.40	1:14.88	2:31.28	14.55
25	33	291768	ROBERTO Alessandro	1977	ITA	1:17.09	1:14.29	2:31.38	15.14
26	16	350032	BUECHEL Marco	1971	LIE	1:17.23	1:14.35	2:31.58	16.32
27	26	560406	GORZA Ales	1980	SLO	1:17.13	1:14.53	2:31.66	16.79
28	20	191750	FANARA Thomas	1981	FRA	1:16.89	1:14.90	2:31.79	17.56
29	53	290910	LONGHI Omar	1980	ITA	1:16.97	1:21.31	2:38.28	55.94

Did not start 1st run:
JAZBEC Janez (SLO), ROCCA Giorgio (ITA)

Did not finish 1st run:
BIGGS Patrick (CAN), RICHARD Cyprien (FRA), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE), COUSINEAU Julien (CAN), VAJDIC Bernard (SLO), LANNING Thomas (tj) (USA), STRUGER Peter (AUT)

Did not finish 2nd run:
SCHEIBER Mario (AUT)

Disqualified 1st run:
TODOROV Dean (BUL)

Did not qualify 1st run:
KARLSEN Truls Ove (NOR), ULIANOV Dmitrij (RUS), SASAKI Akira (JPN), WOELFL Mathias (GER), UOTILA Sami (FIN), MYHRE Lars Elton (NOR), SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), BAXTER Noel (GBR), AJIKI Masaharu (JPN), JITLOFF Tim (USA), LARSSON Markus (SWE), ROY Jean-Philippe (CAN), NICKERSON Warner C (USA), ROTHROCK Tom (USA), MYHRER Andre (SWE), FREY Thomas (FRA), SCHOERGHOFER Philipp (AUT), COVILI Frederic (FRA), DE TESSIERES Gauthier (FRA), BANK Ondrej (CZE), RAINER Niklas (SWE), SANDELL Marcus (FIN), ZAMANSKY Jake (USA), DEFLORIAN Mirko (ITA), GUFLER Michael (ITA), GUAY Erik (CAN), VALENCIC Mitja (SLO), MISSILLIER Steve (FRA), COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), MOELGG Manfred (ITA), MATT Mario (AUT), FILL Peter (ITA)